Wide bandgap bipolar turn-off thyristor having non-negative temperature coefficient and related control circuits

• US 8,294,507 B2
• Filed: 05/08/2009
• Issued: 10/23/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 05/08/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: CREE Incorporated (Wolfspeed, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: CREE Incorporated (Wolfspeed, Inc.)
• Inventors: Zhang, Qingchun, Richmond, James Theodore, Callanan, Robert J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Wells, Kenneth B.
• Application Number:
  US12/437,929
• Publication Number:
  US 20100283529A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,264 Days
• Field of Search: 327440-442, 327470-471, 327474-475
• US Class Current: 327/440
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 25/18 the devices being of types provided for in two or more different subgroups of the same main group of groups H01L27/00 - H01L33/00, or in a single subclass of H10K, H10N
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 29/1608 Silicon carbide
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 29/7404 structurally associated with at least one other device assemblies H01L25/00; integrated circuits H01L27/00
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 29/744 Gate-turn-off devices
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2924/00 Indexing scheme for arrangements or methods for connecting or disconnecting semiconductor or solid-state bodies as covered by H01L24/00
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2924/0002 Not covered by any one of groups H01L24/00, H01L24/00 and H01L2224/00
• CPC Class Codes: H03K 17/567 Circuits characterised by the use of more than one type of semiconductor device, e.g. BIMOS, composite devices such as IGBT

Abstract

An electronic device includes a wide bandgap thyristor having an anode, a cathode, and a gate terminal, and a wide bandgap bipolar transistor having a base, a collector, and an emitter terminal. The emitter terminal of the bipolar transistor is directly coupled to the anode terminal of the thyristor such that the bipolar transistor and the thyristor are connected in series. The bipolar transistor and the thyristor define a wide bandgap bipolar power switching device that is configured to switch between a nonconducting state and a conducting state that allows current flow between a first main terminal corresponding to the collector terminal of the bipolar transistor and a second main terminal corresponding to the cathode terminal of the thyristor responsive to application of a first control signal to the base terminal of the bipolar transistor and responsive to application of a second control signal to the gate terminal of the thyristor. Related control circuits are also discussed.

Claims

1. An electronic device, comprising:

a wide bandgap thyristor having an anode terminal, a cathode terminal, and a gate terminal; and

a wide bandgap bipolar transistor having a base terminal, a collector terminal, and an emitter terminal, the emitter terminal of the bipolar transistor being coupled to the anode terminal of the thyristor,

wherein at least one of the bipolar transistor and the thyristor is selected such that, as an operating temperature increases, an increase in an on-resistance between the collector and emitter terminals of the bipolar transistor is greater than or substantially equal to a decrease in an on-resistance between the anode and cathode terminals of the thyristor.

2. An electronic device, comprising:

a wide bandgap thyristor having an anode terminal, a cathode terminal, and a gate terminal;

a wide bandgap bipolar transistor having a base terminal, a collector terminal, and an emitter terminal, the emitter terminal of the bipolar transistor being coupled to the anode terminal of the thyristor, wherein the bipolar transistor and the thyristor define a wide bandgap bipolar power switching device; and

a control circuit configured to generate first and second control signals, supply the second control signal to the gate terminal of the thyristor and supply the first control signal to the base terminal of the bipolar transistor to switch the bipolar power switching device to a conducting state such that a load current flows between the collector terminal of the bipolar transistor and the cathode terminal of the thyristor,

wherein the control circuit is further configured to couple the gate terminal of the thyristor to the collector terminal of the bipolar transistor such that the load current is commutated to the gate terminal of the thyristor to switch the bipolar power switching device to a nonconducting state.

3. The electronic device of claim 2, wherein the control circuit comprises:

a first voltage source configured to generate the first control signal configured to switch the bipolar transistor to a conductive state;

a second voltage source configured to generate the second control signal configured to switch the thyristor to a conductive state;

a first switching element configured to couple the first voltage source to the base terminal of the bipolar transistor to supply the first control signal thereto;

a second switching element configured to couple the second voltage source to the gate terminal of the thyristor to supply the second control signal thereto; and

a third switching element configured to couple the gate terminal of the thyristor to the collector terminal of the bipolar transistor.

4. The electronic device of claim 2, wherein the control circuit comprises:

a first switching element coupled to the gate terminal of the thyristor;

an inverting driver device configured to provide the first control signal to the base terminal of the bipolar transistor and configured to switch the first switching element to provide the second control signal to the gate terminal of the thyristor;

a second switching element coupled between the gate terminal of the thyristor and the collector terminal of the bipolar transistor; and

a noninverting driver device configured to switch the second switching element to couple the gate terminal of the thyristor to the collector terminal of the bipolar transistor.

5. The electronic device of claim 4, wherein:

the first switching element comprises a wide bandgap metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) transistor having a source/drain terminal coupled to the gate terminal of the thyristor and a gate terminal coupled to an output of the inverting driver device; and

the second switching element comprises a wide bandgap commutating bipolar transistor having a collector terminal coupled to the collector terminal of the bipolar transistor, an emitter terminal coupled to the gate terminal of the thyristor, and a base terminal coupled to an output of the noninverting driver device.

6. The electronic device of claim 5, wherein the control circuit further comprises:

an optically triggered driver device configured to provide an output signal responsive to light applied thereto,

wherein the inverting driver device and the noninverting driver device are coupled to an output of the optically triggered driver device,

wherein the inverting driver device is configured to provide the first control signal to the base terminal of the bipolar transistor and configured to switch the MOS transistor to a conducting state to provide the second control signal to the gate terminal of the thyristor when light is applied to the optically triggered driver device,

and wherein the noninverting driver device is configured to switch the commutating bipolar transistor to a conducting state to couple the collector terminal of the first bipolar transistor to the gate terminal of the thyristor when light is not applied to the optically triggered driver device.

7. The electronic device of claim 2, wherein the control circuit further comprises:

a bypass stage coupled between the gate terminal of the thyristor and the collector terminal of the bipolar transistor and configured to conduct current therebetween to switch the bipolar power switching device to the nonconducting state when the current between the collector terminal of the bipolar transistor and the cathode terminal of the thyristor exceeds a predetermined level.

8. The electronic device of claim 7, wherein the bypass stage comprises a zener diode that is configured to conduct when the voltage drop between the collector of the bipolar transistor and the gate of the thyristor exceeds a breakdown voltage of the zener diode.

9. The electronic device of claim 8, wherein the bypass stage further comprises a commutating bipolar transistor having a collector terminal coupled to the collector terminal of the bipolar transistor, an emitter terminal coupled to the gate terminal of the thyristor, and a base terminal coupled to the zener diode,

wherein the commutating bipolar transistor is configured to be switched to a conducting state responsive to conduction of the zener diode to provide the load current to the gate terminal of the thyristor and switch the bipolar power switching device to the nonconducting state.

10. The electronic device of claim 7, wherein the bypass stage comprises a plurality of power diodes connected in series between the gate terminal of the thyristor and the collector terminal of the bipolar transistor.

11. The electronic device of claim 2, wherein the bipolar transistor and the thyristor are included in a common package, wherein an on-resistance between the anode and cathode terminals of the thyristor decreases as operating temperature of the thyristor increases, and wherein an on-resistance between the collector and emitter terminals of the bipolar transistor increases as operating temperature of the bipolar transistor increases.

12. The electronic device of claim 11, wherein the increase in the on-resistance of the bipolar transistor is greater than the decrease in the on-resistance of the thyristor as the respective operating temperatures increase such that an electrical resistance of the bipolar power switching device in the conducting state increases as operating temperature of the bipolar power switching device increases.

13. The electronic device of claim 11, wherein the increase in the on-resistance of the bipolar transistor is substantially similar to the decrease in the on-resistance of the thyristor as the respective operating temperatures increase such that an electrical resistance of the bipolar power switching device in the conducting state does not substantially change as operating temperature of the bipolar power switching device increases.

14. The electronic device of claim 2, wherein the bipolar power switching device is configured to provide current saturation capability when the bipolar transistor is operated in the active region.

15. The electronic device of claim 2, wherein the bipolar transistor comprises a silicon carbide bipolar junction transistor (BJT), and wherein the thyristor comprises a silicon carbide gate turn-off thyristor (GTO).

16. A packaged bipolar turn-off thyristor device, comprising:

a wide bandgap gate turn-off thyristor (GTO) having an anode terminal, a cathode terminal, and a gate terminal; and

a wide bandgap bipolar junction transistor (BJT) having a base terminal, a collector terminal, and an emitter terminal, the emitter terminal of the BJT being directly coupled to the anode terminal of the GTO,

wherein an on-resistance between the anode and cathode terminals of the GTO decreases as an operating temperature of the GTO increases, wherein an on-resistance between the collector and emitter terminals of the BJT increases as an operating temperature of the BJT increases, and wherein at least one of the BJT and the GTO is selected such that the increase in the on-resistance of the BJT is greater than or substantially equal to the decrease in the on-resistance of the GTO.

17. The device of claim 16, wherein the GTO comprises:

a substrate of a first conductivity type having the cathode terminal thereon;

a drift layer of a second conductivity type opposite to the first conductivity type on the substrate opposite the cathode terminal;

a base layer of the first conductivity type on the drift layer and having the gate terminal thereon; and

a first layer of the second conductivity type on the base layer and having the anode terminal thereon,

and wherein the BJT comprises;

a layer of the first conductivity type directly on the first layer of the second conductivity type and having the emitter terminal thereon; and

a second layer of the second conductivity type on the layer of the first conductivity type, the second layer including a highly doped first region of the first conductivity type therein having the collector terminal thereon, and a highly doped second region of the second conductivity type therein having the base terminal thereon.

18. The device of claim 17, wherein the first conductivity type comprises n-type, and wherein the second conductivity type comprises p-type.

19. The device of claim 17, wherein the substrate and the layers thereon comprise silicon carbide.